When Katie Taylor won a controversial decision over Amanda Serrano in their highly anticipated rematch Friday to retain her undisputed super lightweight titles on the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson undercard, nobody appeared to be more delighted than her longtime promoter, Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn.
In a video that has since gone viral, Hearn could be seen dancing around the ring in joy in the immediate aftermath of the result. At one point, Hearn even came face to face with Nakisa Bidarian, the co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions — which represents Serrano, leading to a heated moment.
For Hearn, it was a reaction long in the making.
“Loads of reasons, really,” Hearn explained of his emotions on Uncrowned and DAZN’s “Ariel X Ade Show.” “Firstly, it was such a defining fight for Katie, who I admire so much. I’ve absolutely loved being part of her journey. She means a lot to me personally, she means a lot to the company, and she means a huge amount to women’s boxing. And I’m just one of her biggest fans.”
Making the win even sweeter was Hearn’s assertion that Matchroom wasn’t treated courteously in the lead-up to Taylor vs. Serrano 2. Hearn was persona non grata all week at the MVP event, and even at the post-fight news conference, Hearn was told only Taylor could go on stage. Her manager, Brian Peters, insisted on the Irishwoman having her trainer, Ross Enamait, and Hearn present, and even threatened that Taylor would leave the arena without attending the conference if the request was not met.
“We all know in the build-up, we didn’t quite get the respect that we deserve as a kind of co-promoter within the fight,” Hearn said, “And during the fight, there was a lot said from where we were sitting. Obviously, during a fight, you give your opinion and your advice, but I felt like there was a lot of disrespect towards Katie Taylor and a lot of comments that I didn’t really like. And I probably bit a little bit, [but] when we got the decision, it was just one pure relief of victory in a big fight.
“The celebrations were almost, I guess with all honesty, like a middle finger up to the people that were saying specific things during the fight that I thought was really disrespectful. But maybe I went a little bit [over the top], and if anyone was offended, I apologize. But that’s just me, and that’s how much I want to win; that’s how much I care and respect my fighters, and that’s what it meant to us as a team to get that victory.”
Despite all three judges scoring the bout exactly the same, 95-94 in favor of Taylor, controversy reigned. A significant portion of boxing fans felt Serrano should’ve been declared the winner, and Netflix commentators even used the term “robbery” on the broadcast to describe the verdict.
Hearn doesn’t buy it, though.
“Let’s be honest, the Netflix commentary was a joke,” he said. “I see the person who gives the first three rounds to Amanda Serrano has never watched a boxing fight in their entire life. There is no way she wins the second and third rounds of that fight. Even in the first round, Katie completely dominated the round and got caught with one massive shot at the end of the round.”
Considering that both bouts were among the best fights of their respective years, there will no doubt be a push for a trilogy. Despite the undisputed champion Taylor being up 2-0 in the series against her Puerto Rican rival, Hearn believes Taylor would entertain a third fight.
“The reality is [Serrano’s team has] their options, we’ve got our options,” he said. “It’s 2-0 to Katie Taylor. I don’t think Katie would have an issue doing a third, but it’s not going to be [taken with] just no regard for Katie Taylor and her team to make one of the biggest fights in the sport, forget in women’s boxing. [But] I think commercially, it’s a great opportunity to do it again.
“The numbers, the response has been incredible. It was so great for not just women’s boxing, but for boxing to see an audience like that dialed in and tuned in. I certainly don’t rule out the third. Katie’s probably got three or four options right now, and Amanda Serrano is definitely one that she would entertain.”
A trilogy would likely be the most lucrative contest available to Taylor, but fights against Chantelle Cameron and Alycia Baumgardner could also be desirable matchups for the Irishwoman.
On the horizon
One week before Taylor’s win, Hearn promoted a major doubleheader in Philadelphia, which saw two of his biggest stars — IBF welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis and pound-for-pound standout Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez — take center stage.
“Boots” won an underwhelming decision over his mandatory challenger, Karen Chukhadzhian. Since then, a bout against WBC interim super welterweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. has been rumored to be next for Ennis. Hearn confirmed that Ortiz is an opponent being discussed for Ennis’ next fight.
“We’re already talking about that fight,” Hearn said. “One thing we have to acknowledge is that DAZN have invested a lot of money in ‘Boots’ Ennis, and the plan was to do a big unification fight in the spring, so obviously this fight would land on February 22 in Saudi Arabia. If it’s acceptable to DAZN and the plan that they have for Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, we’re OK with it. We accept that fight, Jaron accepts the fight.
“But we are talking to the other [welterweight] champions about a potential unification at 147 [pounds], because [Ennis] hasn’t got long left [at welterweight]. The reason that we took the last fight against Chukhadzhian was to keep the belt and to unify. So we’ve got great options, but I do love the Vergil Ortiz-Jaron Ennis fight, I think it’s a tremendous fight.”
Should an Ennis vs. Ortiz bout get finalized, it would be a part of a major show being planned by the Turki Alalshikh-backed “Riyadh Season” for Feb. 22 in Saudi Arabia. Plenty of rumors continue to swirl on what the lineup for that Feb. 22 card could look like, and Hearn offered a few surprising hints.
“Shakur [Stevenson] against [William] Zepeda is already been discussed for that card,” Hearn confirmed. “I think that, for me, I want to see [Dmitry] Bivol rematch [Artur] Beterbiev. I believe that was such a great fight to watch up close, and I believe Dmitry Bivol should be the undisputed champion.”
Zepeda defeated Tevin Farmer by split decision on Saturday in Riyadh, and a Stevenson bout has been expected for the Mexican. A rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev and Bivol was not previously mentioned for Feb. 22 by any of the parties involved.
In the main event of this past Saturday’s show in Riyadh, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez won a competitive decision over Chris Billam-Smith to unify the WBO and WBA cruiserweight belts. But many believe Australia’s IBF champion Jai Opetaia, who Hearn promotes, is the best fighter at cruiserweight.
“That’s the best fight in the division by a mile,” Heard stated of Opetaia vs. Ramirez. “But also it’s a must-make fight. Oscar [De La Hoya, Ramirez’s promoter with Golden Boy], he seems to be more bothered by the records. Records are for DJs. I want real fights. I want Zepeda against Shakur Stevenson, no problem. Ortiz against ‘Boots,’ no problem. ‘Zurdo’ against Opetaia, no problem. [Arnold] Barboza against [Jack] Catterall, no problem. [Diego] Pacheco against anyone you want. I mean, we’ve got so many fighters.
“But [De La Hoya] doesn’t seem to want to put the fighters in when there’s a chance of losing. And unfortunately, as good as ‘Zurdo’ is, Opetaia is a different animal up at cruiserweight. It’s a great fight though, I really feel like that’s the kind of fight we should be making, so hopefully he’ll oblige.”
Hearn has welcomed a 5 vs. 5 event that would pit his Matchroom boxers against De La Hoya’s Golden Boy fighters. De La Hoya accepted the concept as well on social media, however a 5 vs. 5 between Matchroom and Golden Boy doesn’t appear to be in serious discussions at this stage.
Opetaia is currently set to make the second defense of his IBF title against mandatory challenger Huseyin Cinkara on Jan. 8 at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Queensland, Australia.
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